Don't stop Practicing your Craft
- Sasha Bohon
- Sep 5, 2019
- 3 min read
I've been having a low self-esteem day today. Kind of feel like I can't accomplish everything I want, that whatever I do it's just not enough. While I was talking to my husband he told me, "You post so many positive memes on Facebook. Maybe you should listen to yourself." My response was , ":Meh." Cause, you know, it's easier to give positive advise than to take it,
But one inspirational thing I will always post and listen to is to never stop practicing your craft. That kind of sounds like I'm talking about witch craft, which I'm not, but girl if you're a witch and need to get back to practicing, you do that! But what I had in mind was art, music, theatre, writing, cooking, whatever makes your unique little heart sing. Take it from someone who stopped doing what she loved because she never felt good enough. How are you going to get to a point where you're happy with yourself if you just quit? And who cares if others don't like what you're doing? Do you do it for them? Or yourself? It's nice to have acknowledgement for your accomplishments, but in the end is that why you do what you love?
My last semester in college was brutal. I had a one year old to take care of on top of my husband losing his job. I'm not very good at math and the science class I had taken before I failed, so I was taking both a math and science class on top my last couple theatre classes, putting together a senior recital, designing costumes for a show and trying to navigate an advanced acting class I only took because someone told me they needed one more student or it was going to be cancelled. I found out later this wasn't true (I also got hit on later by the person who told me this and had to ask the instructor to make sure I wasn't paired with him in a scene where I might have to be alone with him to rehearse). Needless to say, I was struggling big time.
The instructor for the advanced acting class was someone I saw as a mentor through my years in college. But that semester he tore me apart like crazy. Anytime I got up in that class he yelled and degraded me. He was also supposed to help me with my recital but anytime I tried to schedule time with him he had to call off. I never got to meet with him about my recital. When finals came around I was freaking out, but I decided "screw it". I was doing these scenes from Macbeth for me and no one else. If he wants to be an ass fine. I'm going to go crazy and have fun with it. It was the one day he didn't yell at me, but all I got was a "that was better". After my recital I sat down with the professors for a talk back about it. He tore me up one side and down the other. The other professors seemed like they tried to buffer a bit, but he was extremely vocal and made me feel like such shit. He was the person I looked up to and he was so nasty to me. I walked out thinking, "If the people who know me think this of me, how am I ever going to get work from those who don't know me?"
I didn't act for 2 years. In that time I learned I could sew really well and got on that band wagon. I did some cosplay and costume design but acting is truly my passion. It wasn't until I was asked to join The Rustic Mechanicals, the only Shakespeare troupe in West Virginia, that I acted again. I loved every second of it. One of the things my instructor told me was that I couldn't do Shakespeare and I didn't take it seriously. With the Rustic Mechanicals I was important. I felt amazing! I was doing what I loved and even being told I do it well.
I don't know what all was going on with my instructor but I finally realized that I shouldn't stop doing what I love because of what he said, even if he was a professional. You can't listen to the haters. I'm so much happier pursuing my passion. And I'll never let anyone stop me from doing what I love.
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